Editor's note: We'll be discussing the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on a special live BlazeCast at 4 p.m. Eastern -- including your comments and live chat:
US President Barack Obama wipes his eye as he speaks during a previously unannounced appearance in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on December 14, 2012 in Washington, DC. Obama spoke following the shooting in a Connecticut Elementary School which left at least 27 people dead. (Getty Images)
President Barack Obama wiped away tears Friday as he spoke about the mass elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
"We've endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years. And each time I learn the news, I react not as a president but as anybody else would, as a parent. And that was especially true today" Obama said. "The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of five and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them -- birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own...our hearts are broken today."
Obama said that "as a country, we have been through this too many times, whether it's an elementary school in Newton, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin or a movie theater in Aurora or a street corner in Chicago."
"These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children," he said. "We're going to have come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics."
Quotes in this post and in the headline have been updated for accuracy.
